How to create fake skin for a tattoo

Written by robert inglis

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Fake skin, if made correctly, can resemble both the colour and the consistency of real skin. (skin image by Robert Kelly from Fotolia.com)

Tattoos can be administered in a number of ways, and tattoo artists today use an electric machine that vibrates up and down, puncturing the skin, and looks like a sewing machine. Because of the permanence of tattoo art and the pain caused by the tattooing process, fake skin is often used to practice tattooing with. There are different ways to make this fake skin.

Skill level:

Easy

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Things you need

8 tablespoons all-purpose flour

5 tablespoons warm water

Elmer glue (as needed)

Facial make-up

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Instructions

1

Pour 5 tbsp of warm water in a large, clean bowl.

(Teaspoon image by amlet from Fotolia.com)

2

Add 8 tbsp all-purpose flour.

(farine et chocolate image by Emmanuelle Combaud from Fotolia.com)

3

Mix these ingredients together in the bowl. Aim for a thick and fairly hard, yet malleable, consistency. Add more water or more flour as needed.

(wire whisk in wooden bowl image by Jarek Miarka from Fotolia.com)

4

Flatten the flour-water mixture. Apply the glue liberally. Roll the mixture together and knead the mixture until the glue has amalgamated. Repeat this process several times. As the mixture hardens, if successfully done, it will have a rubbery elastic, thick feel to it, not unlike flesh.

The glue gives the mixture more elasticity, more like the feel of flesh or skin. (bottle of glue on black marble image by phizics from Fotolia.com)

5

Tattoo the fake skin with your handheld apparatus or, after rolling the fake skin and flattening it out, use the tattoo machine. More fake skin can be made as the need arises.

(tattoo image by shime from Fotolia.com)

Tips and warnings

You may also wish to try the actual skin/flesh of animals, such as pigs, or of humans (being cadavers), as they usually possess an even greater verisimilitude to live, human skin. Fake skin in the form of rubber and laminated rubber can also be used. Also, there may be people who would permit the practicing of an amateurish tattooing skill on them, but they may be harder to find.